The CUD story part 7

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Under my Hat photo session by Tony Woolgar. Not entirely happy with their own faces but pleased with the local kids, CUD chose to hide their faces with identical cow heads when they used the image for the record sleeve.

28-29 Jan 1988
Record 2nd single (Under my Hat/Punishment-Reward Relationship/Art!) at the Billiard Room, Headlingley, Leeds.
After a meeting with Reception’s host label, Red Rhino, a deal was agreed for CUD to make another 12″EP for Ediesta. They reluctantly agreed to fund the recording by offering the skint band £100 towards costs. By also dipping into an overdraft, CUD opted for 16 tracks, though we were still relying on the house engineer for production.
Under my Hat was Mike’s first A-Side for the band, Punishment was based around a bassline William improvised playing along to Sophisticated Bitch off the first Public Enemy album. (Try it! It fits!) Art! was from CUD’s early days and so co-credited to original members, Dave Read and Alan Thomas. (They must have made, ooh, at least £10 in broadcast royalties overall!)it
The recording was an improvement on the dull, leaden sound of the first EP, but when the feedback burst in at the end of the A-Side track, it made the rest of the song sound weedy in comparison. But, overall, it was a much more satisfactory release.

A real rarity! Do you have it?

8 Feb 1988 And then Under My Hat turned out NOT to be the second single… CUD’s first Peel session got the quickest release for any session when it appeared on Strange Fruit (even with the band fussing and delaying its release to avoid it coinciding with their own inferior debut|). The Peel EP was released alongside a 1970 Syd Barrett and a 1977 Buzzcocks session. Already broadcast four times on the Peel show, with the CUD version of ‘You Sexy Thing’ being voted at No 20 in Peel’s Festive 50, the CUD session was a hit! A limited edition, promo-only 7″ of You Sexy Thing backed by Electro Hippie’s second-long Mega-Armageddon Death was released to DJs.

11 Feb 1988
Live at The Falcon, London (with Whirl).
Deducting van hire and petrol costs from our guaranteed fee of £40, we make a loss. Carl has already spent his term’s grant, Steve has had to take up work at Meanwood Urban Farm and William has had to join Enterprise Allowance Scheme (as a comic artist) to keep the dole off his back. It’s tough at the top!

14 Feb 1988
Carl turns up over an hour late for the Ediesta Under My Hat photo session, costing the band money. Mike threatens to leave if Carl continues to behave with such disregard.

Something about the Under My Hat individual portraits reminds oneof the pictures in the window of a downbeat barber.

25 Feb 1988 Return to the Hull Adelphi. 10 Mar 1988 Slack Party! (see right). A Rev Martin Baker promotion, yet, on arriving at the venue, the band found it locked. By tugging on a letter box, William managed to break on so the band could set up. The Warehouse owners were evetually informed (they were needed to open the bar at least!) by the police. The Psoriasis Doctors who performed at this gig were a trio comprising fellow psoriasis sufferers, Martin, Steve Goodwin and Elvis Belt. Their video for a song entitled ‘Upside-Down Envelope Blues’ was a highlight of the time. Convinced that Martin Baker did such a good job promoting the Slack Party, Carl votes for Baker to be CUD manager and convinces most of them behind William’s back. Tired of the extra work, William reluctantly agrees to give up the reins.

3 Apr 1988
Mike and Maria become the proud parents of a boy, Daniel John.

21 Apr 1988
Live at the Notre Dame Hall, London (with The Shamen and The Seers).
In their pre-Ebeneezer Goode days, The Shamen projected porn films for their stage lighting.

23 Apr 1988
Live at The Boardwalk, Manchester (with Flag of Convenience)

27 Apr 1988
Live at Take Two, Sheffield (with The Bland)

30 Apr 1988
Live Medway Arts Centre, Chatham, Kent (with House of Love)
Now that was a long trip to make from Leeds, but the band were offered the phenomenal sum of £75, so they couldn’t turn it down.
The venue was an old town hall. They got their own dressing room, sandwiches and booze for a change. Carl and William explore the clock tower and set Chatham forward quarter of an hour.

31 Apr 1998
Live at Canterbury Arms, London Brixton (with God, ahem!),
The band expected to lose money on this, with about 70-80 people showing up, but they made an extra £30 on their percentage, sold 12 t-shirts over the two gigs and went home happy. London shows were a reunion since many of the bands’ friends had moved to the capital since leaving college in the summer.

4 May 1998
Live at Leeds Wig Out.

5 May 1998
Record ‘Treat Me Bad’ (typical William slow/fast song) at Lion Studios, Leeds for Take 5 album in aid of Shelter.

6 May 1998
What?! Hull Adelphi again?

7 May 1988
Under my Hat released.

10 May 1998
Live at Coventry Poly (with Cry Before Dawn)

12 May 1998
Live at Tynemouth Pig Sty

What they said about Under my Hat:
“Groovy, abrasive quartet with big bastard boots on, CUD wait until the last quarter of the song before letting their guitarist go mental. Shame, because ‘Under My Hat’ only needs that final push to make contact.” Sounds

“Flamboyant guitar music for a new age of strident enthusiasts. CUD have a mouthful of verbs to spit, here they’re punctuated with abrasive wit and all the right expletives. CUD are an important band re-pointing the walls of contemporary music.” Underground

“Grubby Leeds funsters have moved on with a sound they would like to think as big and bold. They have perfected a brand of West Yorkshire brutalism that is tolerable enough in short spurts, but grating in longer doses. The forthcoming album’s worth of Cud is something I would rather not chew through.” NME

Continue to Part 8